The Harlan You Don't Know
by Animorphgirl
Summary: A pre Christa story. Harlan, due to his poor grades, has just been placed in Radu's class. He isn't too happy about it.


The Harlan You Don't Know  
  
Part 1  
  
By: Emily  
  
Mrs. Band got off the small spaceship. She had received a call about her son's failing grades, but she wasn't surprised. Her son had been a good student, all A's and B's, until the Spung War. Then, his grades dropped slightly when his father died. That was understandable. Still, he received passing grades, even then. But when the Andromedan was accepted at the Starcademy, Harlan stopped trying.  
  
Mrs. Band couldn't blame her son. It seemed ridiculous for a race that the UPP was fighting against a few years ago was now going to the same school as her son. She knew, like many other parents, that the Andromedan was "an individual". That meant that Andromedans wanted to get rid of him. This meant, Mrs. Band realized, that the Andromedan could kill Harlan, and clearly wasn't controlled.  
  
Mrs. Band knew that the Starcademy wasn't going to blame the situation on the Andromedan. Better to have a poor student than admit a mistake, she thought, annoyed. Still, she decided to address it, and maybe something could be done about it.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----  
  
"Oh good, you're here," said Ms. Davenport. She sat at on a large chair with a small table in front of her. The table was a light blue shade, and there were two other chairs. The chairs were dark green, and one was occupied by the Principal. The other one was empty.  
  
"Won't you sit down?" said the Principal, smiling fakely. Mrs. Band sat.  
  
"We're here to, ah, discuss your son's declining work," said Ms. Davenport.  
  
I know that, thought Mrs. Band. What did they think I was here for?  
  
"Well, let's take a look at your son's school records," said the Principal. She took out a rather large gray briefcase. She pulled out a thick tan colored folder and took some papers out. "We'll start with middle school, all right?"  
  
Mrs. Band nodded.  
  
"It appears that your son was once a very good student," said Ms. Davenport.  
  
"All A's and B's. He was on the Honor Roll five times," said Mrs. Band, proudly.  
  
"Really. But his grades declined to a B- average during the Spung War," said the Principal, frowning.  
  
"His father died during that time. I know some friends of Harlan's whose family members died. Their decrease was much greater."  
  
"A B- is a perfectly adequate grade," agreed Ms. Davenport. "Especially for That Time."  
  
"Then it dropped to D's and F's," said the Principal, an annoying tone in her voice.  
  
"That's because of That Andromedan!" exclaimed Mrs. Band.  
  
"Mrs. Band, his name is Radu."  
  
"Fine! But the point is, the Andromedan, ah, Radu, had much to do with it."  
  
"They're not in the same class."  
  
"The same school is enough. My son isn't the only person who's been affected."  
  
"It's an important part of the Peace Process," explained the Principal, coldly.  
  
"What process? The Andromedans only sent him there because he was different! They don't even want to have their young in this school. They dislike our ways."  
  
"As we do theirs," said Ms. Davenport, only to receive a sharp look from the Principal.  
  
"It's necessary for an Andromedan to be at our school so that we can be peaceful."  
  
"What kind of peace is that? Harlan tells me that the Andromedan is made fun of, and only has one friend."  
  
"Rosie, probably," said the Principal. "Quantity isn't everything."  
  
"But the point is that having an enemy at the school has greatly affected Harlan!" shouted Mrs. Band, infuriated.  
  
"No need to shout."  
  
"I'm sorry," said Mrs. Band, sarcastically.  
  
"Excuse me, it's time for my class," said Ms. Davenport. In order to get a raise and possibly a promotion, she was teaching an Advanced Poetry class.  
  
"Very well." Ms. Davenport left.  
  
"Now you see here," said Mrs. Band. "Harlan was a good student, and is a good student. It's the Andromedan's fault. Do something about it!"  
  
"As a matter of fact, we plan to. Your son will be joining his class on Monday. Excuse me. I have a meeting." Before Mrs. Band could say anything, the Principal left, leaving her to fume.  
  
Part 2  
  
Mrs. Band met with Harlan after classes that day. She told him everything that went on during the meeting. Harlan was as angry as his mom had been.  
  
"How dare they act that way toward you?!" exclaimed Harlan. "That's it. I tried to accept That Andromedan, but no way. Andromedans killed my dad and now they expect me to be in the same class as him?!"  
  
"What are you going to do about it?" asked Mrs. Band, slightly worried.  
  
"Make his life miserable." Harlan made his hands into fists.  
  
"Maybe that will make them realize it," said Mrs. Band, glad to see her son doing something about it. It didn't occur to her what what her son was doing wasn't the best thing to do.  
  
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"Hi, Harlan!" said Rosie when Harlan entered the classroom. The class was small, with only five kids, including Harlan. It was the class for kids needing lots of help.  
  
"Hi Rosie," said Harlan. He took a seat as far away from Radu as he could.  
  
"Oh, hello, Mr. Band," said Commander, looking up from his lesson plan. "All right, today we're going to study the different types of ore on planets and what factors contribute to their formation." He paused. "Can anyone tell me what formation mean? Radu?"  
  
The Andromedan appeared unsure. "The way the ore is formed, by the area that it's formed in and the height, weight, color, density, and other factors?"  
  
"Correct. Now, I'm going to ask questions to see how much you know, and then we can fill in the gaps. Please turn on your compu pads."  
  
The students turned on their compu pads. Harlan sent Radu a message, "You'll be sorry, Andromedan.". He noticed that a Saturnian was smiling at him, and he grinned back.  
  
"Who can give me the definition of ore?" asked Commander.  
  
"A place where minerals can be extracted from in usable amounts," called out Harlan, not bothering to raise his hand.  
  
"Correct, but please raise your hand, Band."  
  
Commander continued his lesson, throwing an occasional question every now and then. Harlan sent another message to Radu, telling him to meet him outside of the boys room, at lunch.  
  
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Harlan waited outside. Radu was two minutes late.  
  
"You're late, Andromedan," he snarled, looking like a predator ready to attack the prey.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Why are you late?"  
  
"Commander wanted to see me about my grade."  
  
"A zero, of course!" said Harlan. "Dumb Andromedans. Can't even decide what side they're on!"  
  
Harlan's allies laughed. There were a lot of them, possibly twenty. Radu's only ally was Rosie, who looked worried.  
  
"Go away Andromedan!" said one of Harlan's allies.  
  
"When I give the signal," said Harlan. "Attack!"  
  
Radu looked upset and worried.  
  
Harlan whistled and his followers attacked Radu. Though an Andromedan is 10 times as strong as a human, the fact that there were twenty humans, and one almost Andromedan (Harlan), Radu's odds didn't look good.  
  
"Get the rope!" ordered Harlan to one person. The person nodded.  
  
The others were holding Radu down, against the wall. Five people had hold of each of his arms and his legs. Radu squirmed, but it was no use. The person got the ropes and tied his arms behind his back. With the remaining rope, Radu's legs were tied together. His long hair was tied with his arms, so his head was forced back a little.  
  
"Beat him up!" exclaimed one of Harlan's followers, a Earther called Ben. Ben had dark brown hair and green eyes. He was almost as tall as Harlan.  
  
"Yeah! Beat him up!" chorused the others.  
  
Harlan lunged, then thought better of it. He punched Radu in the face, giving him a bloody nose and a black eye.  
  
Harlan went up to Ben. He whispered if he should dunk him in the toilet. The others heard and cheered.  
  
One person said, "Don't show any regret! That's what Andromedans like him did. And he's an individual! He's worse than the others. If he stays, then make sure he learns his lesson!" The others cheered. "But it probably won't work."  
  
"Who said that?" asked Harlan. The person who just spoke stepped forward. It was Uranus boy, Bova.  
  
"Well said." Harlan grinned at Bova, who smiled uncertainly back.  
  
Harlan dragged the tied up Andromedan inside a stall and pushed his head in the toilet. After waiting ten seconds, he dragged him up.  
  
"Should I leave him here?" asked Harlan, playfully.  
  
"Yes!"  
  
Giving a last kick at the Andromedan, Harlan left.  
  
Part 3  
  
Rosie had hid when Radu was tied up. She crept in the bathroom, careful that she wasn't seen. She checked to see where Radu was. She found him off to the side, in a far corner.  
  
"Radu! What did they do to you?" she asked.  
  
Radu tried to speak but was gagged by Harlan's allies and couldn't talk.  
  
"Oh, right," said Rosie, giggling slightly. "Here, I'll untie you."  
  
She took off one of her gloves. "Be careful; this might hurt a little." She heated the rope, causing it to catch fire on one side. She quickly blew it out and pulled the rope. It seemed to work. Soon, all the ropes were off of Radu.  
  
"What happened?" asked Rosie, on the way to the nurse. Radu needed to have someone check on his cuts.  
  
"Harlan and his friends beat me up, and called me stupid," said Radu. "But don't tell anyone!"  
  
"Why not?" asked Rosie.  
  
"Harlan will just be angrier." Radu stared at Rosie. "Please promise."  
  
"I, uh, ok," agreed Rosie.  
  
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When they got to the nurse, the nurse seemed concerned, but not too surprised.  
  
"What happened?" asked the nurse.  
  
Radu told what happened, giving as few details as possible.  
  
"This is serious." The nurse stared at Radu. "Do you know who did it?"  
  
Before Radu could answer, there was a knock on the door. The nurse told Radu to hold on for a second, and answered it. It turned out to be a person who had a (reasonably high) fever. By the time that she had taken the sick person and had him rest (after calling a doctor to diagnose him), she forgot what she asked Radu. The nurse put some medicine on Radu's cuts and told him that he should be fine. She muttered to herself about "rude, disrespectful students" and sent Radu and Rosie to lunch. They were a half hour late, but there was still enough time to eat, quickly.  
  
"We have to do something about this, Radu," Rosie insisted.  
  
"If we tell on Harlan, then he'll get me again, worse. And his friends were also in on it."  
  
"Do you know any of their names?"  
  
Radu thought for a few minutes.  
  
"I remember two of them. Bova, and Ben."  
  
"Bova's in on this? I'll speak to him. I'm not surprised about Ben, though."  
  
Radu nodded.  
  
"Anyone else you remember?"  
  
Radu thought again. "Well, I remember a few people from my study hall that were there. Michael, Shana, and Ume."  
  
Rosie nodded again. "I'll tell on them, without saying who I am."  
  
"They'll know."  
  
"Not necessarily. For doing this, they could get kicked out."  
  
"That would just make them angrier at me," Radu pointed out.  
  
"I guess I could talk to Harlan," said Rosie, sounding more sure that she could do something about it than she felt.  
  
"Really?" asked Radu, happier.  
  
"Yeah." Rosie gulped. "Sure. No problem."  
  
Part 4  
  
Rosie was pretty nervous, since Harlan was five years older than her (being 18 to her 13) and set on hating Radu. She wished that that the whole thing could be resolved.  
  
She knocked on Harlan's door. Harlan was often there after classes, hanging out with his friends or doing homework.  
  
"Come in," called Harlan.  
  
Rosie opened the door. Harlan was there with one of his friends, a Plutonian called Meshi. Meshi had pale blue skin, green eyes, thin green hair, and was short. When he saw Rosie, he told Harlan he better go.  
  
"Hi Harlan," said Rosie, nervously.  
  
"Hey," said Harlan. "What's up?"  
  
"It's, uh, it's about Radu."  
  
"Who?" asked Harlan.  
  
"Radu. The Andromedan."  
  
"Oh, that thing. What about it?"  
  
"Harlan, I know what you did to him."  
  
"And you're here to thank me for my bravery, right?"  
  
"N-not exactly," said Rosie, frustrated.  
  
"Well, what then?"  
  
"What you did was cruel. He didn't do anything to you, Harlan."  
  
"His people killed my dad. He's like them."  
  
"The reason why he's here is because he had new ideas. He, though young at the time, was against the war. He wanted to fight the Spung, but the other Andromedans felt it was useless."  
  
"How do you know this?"  
  
"He told me."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Please Harlan, don't beat him up anymore. You don't need to be friends with him, or like him, but at least don't kill him."  
  
"Well, OK. I won't be nice to him, though. After all, it was his race that killed my dad."  
  
"Well, OK then. See you later."  
  
"Yeah, bye Rosie."  
  
Rosie left the room and went to tell Radu. Radu, unable to keep quiet about what Harlan did, had told the vice principal, Ms. Davenport. Just after Radu told Rosie this, they heard the prissy teacher's voice on the microphone.  
  
"Harlan Band please report to my office immediately. Radu, please report there as well. Thank you."  
  
Radu gulped. Rosie tried to reassure him that things would work out, but she wasn't sure herself. When Harlan got in trouble, it was a long time before he would forgive you.  
  
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Radu stood outside the office, uncertain. He knocked on the door, and Davenport called for him to come in. He stepped inside a gray room with two occupied pale green chairs, and one free chair. A small table was in the middle, which was cleared. Harlan was already there, looking a mixture of ashamed, upset, and angry. Radu had never seen someone so angry in his life.  
  
"Won't you sit down?" said Davenport calmly, gesturing at the empty chair. Radu sat.  
  
Davenport waited. Nothing happened. Radu looked like a cat about to be chased by a huge dog, with fear clearly expressed on his face. Harlan said (so quietly that only Radu could hear him), "Nice hairdo, chicken."  
  
"Well, in that case, I'll begin. Harlan, you beat up Radu in the bathroom, pushed him in the toilet, tied him up, and gave him a bloody lip, nose, and a black eye. Why did you do this?"  
  
"Because he's Andromedan," said Harlan, as though the answer should have been obvious.  
  
"Harlan wasn't the only one," said Radu. "He had at least twenty people with him."  
  
"Harlan, what you did was very serious. Now, under the starcademy rules, it says to suspend you for a week. So that is what I must do. If this ever happens again, you will be expelled. Do I make myself clear?"  
  
Harlan tried to say something, but Davenport just interrupted, saying, "Do I make myself clear, Mr. Band?"  
  
Harlan just nodded and left, leaving Radu alone with Davenport.  
  
"I'm sorry about this, Radu. I can assure you that this won't happen again. Not if I know Harlan."  
  
Radu nodded, but wasn't convinced.  
  
"I'll write you a note for your next class," she said, grabbing a piece of paper. She scribbled that Radu was talking to her about "social issues regarding others" and to "please excuse his tardiness". She handed Radu the note and Radu went to his next class with Commander. He would have to be careful to avoid Harlan for today. Starting tomorrow, for a week, Harlan would be suspended, but Radu knew that that would only bring trouble.  
  
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One Week Later  
  
Harlan was back. He told the others about Radu and his suspension. The names of the others were found out, and they all received warnings and three day suspensions. They still made fun of Radu, but didn't beat him up, like they did in the beginning. Radu's grades were improving, slowly, but not quickly enough: the term was almost over and the last thing Radu needed was failing grades. At least he had one thing to look forward to: field training. It was supposed to be a lot of fun, and would give you extra credit if you did a good job at it. Maybe, if Radu was lucky, he could get passing grades if he was excellent at field training.  
  
Rosie was still very nice to him. Bova wasn't an ally of Harlan anymore, though he still regarded Radu as a virus of the worst time. Rosie said that this was common for Uranusians.  
  
Generally, things were getting better. Harlan still hated him, but didn't beat him up anymore. Radu thought that, eventually, Harlan would see that Radu wasn't the Andromedans who killed his dad, and start to accept him. Radu would much rather have friends then enemies.  
  
And so, as time went on, Radu had an easier time at the Starcademy. He wasn't accepted yet, but he knew that maybe one day he might be.  
  
The End 


End file.
